I think my sons Autism was caused by lack of oxygen at birth

[WhatAMum01]

My son is 5 and severely autistic and mentally disabled.when hexwas being born his heart rate slowed down and there was panic on the midwifes face ,she was flapping and only person delivering.it was an induced labour and they thought I might need a csection but he ended up coming out but it was prolonged.he screamed every day as a baby and rarely slept, I tried everything thinking it was reflux ,hes continued with the awful sleep and lives a incapacitated life. Life is very difficult for our family.im wondering would it be worthy to see a negligence lawyer as it's the way he will be for his whole life and I worry about him when I'll be gone and no longer able to care for him.we are barely getting by just now.have I left it too late ,is it even possible. Please be kind,I'm not looking for some crazy payday,just seeing if theres anything that could be done for him due to what i believe was delayed care.anybody been in this situation?thanks for reading.

The nurse got your baby out alive when she noticed he was being deprived of oxygen.

Or would you rather she perhaps didn’t notice.. or that she did notice but didn’t go into panic mode and get him out quickly yet safely?

The panic and flapping sounds like “shit we need to get this baby out or he will die”

Not “shit the lack of oxygen is going to make him austistic and it’s my fault”

yellow I am confused by your post. As you point out I said “your son has 3 years from when he becomes an adult so until he is 21” and you say that this is wrong as “OPs child doesn’t ‘time out’ until they become an adult”. Am not sure how you perceive these statements to differ?

ASD is NOT caused by traumatic births, lack of oxygen etc. It’s that simple. It’s a brain developmental condition.

You do realise that the brain continues to develop extensively after birth?

www.urbanchildinstitute.org/why-0-3/baby-and-brain

How do you explain developmental regression being a common feature of autism? My twins seemed to be developing normally until 18 months. One had a major sudden regression.

He experienced a type of brain damage that occurs around the time of birth, diagnosed at almost 2 but this could not explain the regression.

It’s not as simple as neurological issues always existing before birth.

Op I believe that lack of oxygen contributed towards my ds having autism. When he was born, the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, he was in shock and he had to be taken straight away for oxygen. He spent time in neo natal care.
I believe that there are genetic factors but also external factors that can trigger it, which would explain why my dh is one of 8 siblings, but the only one with autism. He almost died at birth.
I was traumatised after the birth and requested the birth notes to try and help me understand what happened. I never looked into negligence but in the following years there were two high profile cases of negligence from the same hospital within a few months of ds birth.
I had my second child this year in a different hospital and it's made me realise how poor the care was that I received in the first hospital.

The other thing that always stayed in my head was everyone coming to look at the placenta as if there was something wrong with it. (Before they dropped it on the floor).
When I had my second this year the placenta looked completely different and so much healthier. It was like comparing a fresh steak with a gone off steak.

@EmeraldShamrock

The article you posted the link for in the Irish Times does not support your argument at all. The case was settled out of court with no liability admitted, and no link proven between the birth and autism.
The reason why many hospital trusts do settle out of court is because the risk of losing the case is financially much greater, so lawyers always advise to settle if possible.

@Whatstodo2019

Your DH is autistic and there are proven links between generations of families with autism.
Your DS having his cord around his neck isn't medical negligence I'm afraid. It's something that commonly happens during delivery. Negligence would be if staff knew he had his cord round his neck and did nothing that could be done about it at the time.

@Soontobe60

As I said I believe some of it is down to genetics.
But then why do only some siblings get it and not orhers? Dh is one of 8, so why is he the only one out of 8 that has it? That's why I think it's partly genetic and partly external factors.

Sorry I didn't mean it to sound as though I thought it was negligence that the cord was around ds neck. I was just explaining how he came to having a lack of oxygen.
Although if they monitored him before birth they would have realised what was happening and been able to help him (like the other hospital did with my second child) .
There was negligence surrounding other parts of the pregnancy and labour though, as you said things they were aware of but didn't act on. Things that also became issues in my second pregnancy and labour, and that the second hospital did act on.

@WhatAMum01

Your husband has autism and so does your child yet you’re still looking for external factors to explain your child’s condition?

Having the cord wrapped around your babies neck is not medical negligence. It’s just bad luck.

As people keep saying, there is no known link between oxygen depletion at birth and autism yet the OP has chosen to ignore this. I understand that humans have a need to understand why inexplicable things happen but the OP is barking up the wrong tree here.

Low heart rates at birth are pretty common, although still traumatic for parents. You will always find people on threads like this saying “yes, it happened to me and my child has autism too so there must be a link” but they fail to appreciate that it also happened a million other people who’s kids do not have autism. It’s the same as the garbage about vaccines causing autism.

@Whatstodo2019

As I said I believe some of it is down to genetics.
But then why do only some siblings get it and not orhers? Dh is one of 8, so why is he the only one out of 8 that has it? That's why I think it's partly genetic and partly external factors.

Your husband and his siblings all have a different genetic makeup. That’s why one of 8 can end up with autism.

My eldest child now an adult had lack of oxygen at birth and we were in hospital 10 days. She has no problems at all.

Have you asked for an MRI? My youngest son is about to be diagnosed with ASD and I’m thinking about pushing for brain scan because we have no family history of ASD nor development delay. I have also read Brian damage can present as ASD, the child psychologist are not putting him forward for genetic testing which makes me believe that they are aware that his ASD symptoms was caused by some other factor. Have you been offered blood testing for your son?

My first child was born not breathing and with the cord wrapped round her neck twice. Sadly she only survived a few days. During the debrief and post mortem there was indications that although the heart rate was being monitored, there should have been earlier intervention in the birth process, however this may not have altered the outcome as there were complicating factors such as infection (suspected strep B, placenta was infected).

We decided not to pursue a legal case, as we had no costs to cover as such. We did request that the case be reviewed by hospital staff and used as an opportunity to improve practice, although we have no idea if this has happened. However, if our daughter had survived she would have had severe disabilities and we would have pursued it as she would have needed the money.

There is a reason to claim if your child is living with lifelong difficulties due to birth complications. My non expert but read a little bit about it understanding is that hypoxia is very difficult to predict during births, so it would come down to whether the midwife missed signs during the induction or failed to follow procedures, call for help etc at the correct indications in your birth. Her looking panicked at the time is not necessarily an indication of blame, it could be genuine panic that things have suddenly changed.

I've no legal knowledge, but requesting your notes and asking for further investigation into your son's conditions seems like a good way forward. It can be very hard to get support for learning difficulties at the moment as all services are being cut. Someone up thread suggested a brain scan, presumably this would show if there was damage at birth, and might help give the answers you need.

I am thinking of you, it's so hard when things don't go as they should.

Parental age is a known risk factor.
So a parent having many children will likely have had some older.
It also seems blood glucose can be a factor (higher rates of asd with pcos, t1 diabetes, gestational diabetes).
And low blood sugar in a new born.

Older parents would have less good sugar control and i would think that would increase the more pregnancies you have.
Interestingly i didnt eat during long labours but i did have possibly glucose drinks.

Hi OP. I am a clinical negligence solicitor. If you decide to go down the legal route, please make sure that you go to one of the specialist firms rather than a small firm that "dabbles" in clinical negligence cases. They are very complicated and you need a specialist.

If it can be shown that your DS suffered brain damage during birth, he may be entitled to legal aid. If not, a firm may be willing to act on a no win no fee basis.

The bigger firms are often willing to review the medical records free of charge to advise you whether it is worth going ahead. You would need both your and your son's records.

I have 3 children. All 3 of their heart rates dropped before they were born, I presume it’s due to a long labour and baby getting tired. I think this happens a lot. It doesn’t mean they have been deprived of oxygen. They are all fine.

If it can be shown that your DS suffered brain damage during birth, he may be entitled to legal aid. If not, a firm may be willing to act on a no win no fee basis.

Could I ask - how would they know whether brain damage was caused by the birth or not, if brain damage is present? My son has brain damage that occurs in the neonatal period but I don’t know how one would prove it was caused by the birth itself?

I have considered this route since his IUGR should have been detected in scans - admin cocks up meant we didn’t see a consultant after the 32w scan and apparently they were reviewed by a consultant and were okay, but looking back now I highly doubt that.

Op, you said yourself you don't even know what went wrong at the birth but you just have a "feeling" it's negligence? Sounds like your midwife actually did a great job. She noticed that something was wrong and delivered your baby safely and yet you any to blame her for yours child's autism? Surly if there was something traumatic you and baby would have same day discharge.

I apologise if I sound harsh but I really don't think looking for someone to blame is the answer here. Maybe have a look at his notes to ease your mind. It sounds like a difficult time for you and I wish you all the best. Genetics and any type of conditions have so many factors in them that looking for a reason is unlikely to help you accept the situation.

we're in the early days of knowing all the various links in what causes ASD, why 2 parents with some neurodivergent traits can have some more impacted children and others that seem fine and also if there is a single spectrum or further sub diagnoses are needed.

My DD had the same delivery @WhatAMum01 but I can't see what they could've done differently - noticed the heart rate problem earlier? Hard to prove negligence, and hard to prove that led to ASD - 2 unknowns. No harm in seeing a qualified lawyer specialising in the area though.

My eldest Childs' birth was much like the one describe, although we did make a very speedy entrance to theatre for a crash section. This baby is now a teenager and has no special needs or ill health. My following children were planned peaceful caesareans. One of them is autistic. I now realise his father is too. There was a time I wanted something to blame. But it's no one's fault. I believe it is most likely genetic. And I believe he was autistic in early development, long before delivery. He's different. And he has some struggles all the round pegs in round holes don't understand. But he's cute and quirky and brilliant in so many ways. I just love him exactly as he is. (but I do have a theory that mums of autistic children probably drink more wine).

However, the theory on brain damage might be worth exploring. But, I think you should tread carefully. The process of the investigation might bring you more pain than it does to answer your questions. You might also have a conversation with the doctor ho diagnosed his autism about whether he/she is sure it couldn't be brain damage.

My son suffered a stroke due to oxygen deprivation in the NICU due to medical neglect and has severe cerebral palsy with incontrovertible evidence from an intracranial scan at birth and then after the event where he was found with blue tinged skin. I don't know if autism has ever been linked to hypoxia